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Under the 

Red Cross 




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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Under the Red Cross 



BY 



DAVID HENRY WRIGHT, A.B., LL.B. 



1420 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PENNA. 




DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER 

NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA LONDON 

SAN FRANCISCO TORONTO 

IQOI 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Copies Received 

MAR. 23 1901 

Copyright entry 

SLASSO-XXc. N». 

COPY 8. 



Jflo 






Copyright, 1901 
By ANTHONY J. DREXEI, BIDDL,E 



("e| ( c « € * • • 

PRINTED BY 

DREXEL BIDDER 

PHILADELPHIA LONDON 



TO THE BOYS IN BLUE OF OUR ARMY AND NAVY, 
AND SOME OF MY FRIENDS WHO WERE HURT: 

CURTIS, DRUMMER OF THETHIRTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN, 

LEG SHOT OFF BY A CANNON-BALL ; 
DEMPSEY, OF TEXAS, SHOT IN SEVENTEEN PLACES, 

YET MERRY AS A CRICKET ; 

SERGEANT BROWN, COLORED, OF THE NINTH U. S. 

CAVALRY ; 

LT. COL. CARROLL, SHOT IN BOTH HIPS, 

AND MANY OTHERS 

WHO SAW THE STARS SHINE OUT ON THOSE HOT 

NIGHTS BENEATH THE RED CROSS; 

ALSO, 

MRS. LT. CUSHMAN, THE MISSES EVANS, MISS GOULD, 
MY WIFE, ANNA BIOREN WRIGHT, 

AND ALL THOSE WHO HELPED IN ANY WAY, 

THE LINES IN THIS LITTLE BOOK 

ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY 

DEDICATED. 



Contents 



Prayer for Our Boys in Blue 

The Maine . 

The Camp at Night 

Washington . 

The Old Academy . 

Love and Life 

Where Bryan Leads 

The Game of Life . 

Love, Fame, Death 

At Barbados . 

Island of Porto Rico 

Rev. William H. Furness 

A Star . 

The Conductor's Wife 

Our Country 

What is the Other World 

For Little June 

The Soul 



9 

10 

12 

l 3 
14 

*5 

16 

J 7 
J 7 
18 

J 9 

20 

21 

22 
23. 

2 3 



Paris by Day 






24 


Paris by Night 






25 


Boies Penrose 






26 


Hotel Sagamore, Lake George 






27 


Hearts ..... 






27 


Quaint Olde Burlington . 






28 


Life 






29 


The Two Crowns . 






29 


The Duke of Clarence . 






30 


The Duke of York 






3 1 


Victoria .... 






3 2 



Prayer for Our Boys in Blue. 

God bless them all, my boys in blue, 
With hearts so tender and so true ; 
God watch them in the darkest night 
And lead them ever in the right. 

God shield them through the scorching day 
And teach my boys all how to pray ; 
God keep them safe on land and sea 
And bring them back to you and me. 



The Maine. 

O great disaster ! A city gone, 

Buried beneath the sea ; 

Three hundred lives dropped out 

And gone to meet their God alone. 

Nor revelry nor shout 

Nor glorious action to stand 

In historic journals of our land. 

How often have I seen the great Maine 

move, 
A palace of the sea, 
And watched the waves that play 
About her mighty hulk their love display 
In rippling kisses there ! 
And press her bosom white 
With priceless jewels of the sea bedight. 

Oh, curses on the land that bore the man 

Whose hand or brain could stand 

And, hellish, plot or plan 

So foul a deed, no equal foe to scan, 

But, worse than a serpent's course, 

Who stings outside, crept in 

And stung the great ironclad from within ! 



For every man that went below the deep 

We'll send a full score more 

To bear him company. 

God of nations, who all reckonings keep, 

To Thee we leave the plan ! 

Thou Who keepest watch o'er all 

Send through every land and heart thy call. 



The Camp at Night. 

Where tented sleep the boys at night, 
While the moon shines on the sea ; 

The starlit skies are full of light, 
As the boys sleep peacefully. 



Washington. 

For the P. 0. S. of A. 

Thou spirit of the historic past, 

Who guided for us the Ship of State 

Throughout the perils of those other years ; 

Who hung our guerdon on the mast — 
Our flag of stars ! Our flag of fate — 

Keep near and shield us from our tremb- 
ling fears ! 

Let the great past to greater present yield 

Homage that is so justly won and due. 
Strong strains were then upon our anchor 

chains. 
Now a century gone we fear to shield, 
Another land, another race that sue 
To come to learn and share our well- 
earned gains. 

Is it for us to stand aside and see 
Cuba and Porto Rico downward go ? 

Have they not suffered centuries of shame 

Beneath the rod of wrong and tyranny ? 
We come a brother, not a deadly foe, 

To take them with us and to our land 
reclaim : 



Where freedom stands within her gates of 

truth 
And bids the nations of the world watch 

on, 
To see true greatness gentle as a child ; 
To lift to knowledge every striving youth; 
And that the echoes all shall say, well 

done ! 
When we look back and see a record 

undefiled — 

A century of greatness and of grandeur 
rare 
In history of all the nations of the world. 
Come, brothers, our great past to greater 

present gives 
A lustre and a fame that all of us can share ; 
Old tyrannies of the past are being hurled 
By the giant present that so grandly lives. 

And in those fair islands of the sea, 

Where Dewey fought for freedom, 
Next year shall end the darkness of the 

past. 
When liberty and freedom shall see 



Nine million souls to higher ideals won, 
And our great flag shall shine upon their 
mast. 

Now, shall we tremble and turn back 
When Washington's clear voice doth 
call us on 
To the larger work and the wider field ? — 
Did our father stay in England's beaten 
track ? — 
Or pass on, a nation to freedom won, 
Till star on star is shining on our nation's 
shield ? 



The Old Academy. 

I love the old Academy, 
The hall of old-time memory : 
To see the faces, tier on tier ; 
To watch the wondrous chandelier, 
The marvel of my childhood years. 



Love and Life. 

From what ill star did rise the blood 

And blossom of our love 
That it should live to reach the flood, 

Then perish like a dove, 

Who, waking on some summer morn, 
Doth find her nestlings gone ? 

Her wailing cry of love forlorn 
Moans like an organ's tone. 

Oh, love, to reach its heights, then pass 

Away into the dawn ! 
As the dew passeth from the grass, 

And what was jewelled lawn 

Becomes a dry and burning space 

Under the midday sun, 
So passeth from the human face 

Its gleam when love is done ; 

And what was all a living place 

Becomes a desert bare, 
Where hot winds weave their sandy lace 

When grim death rules there. 



13 



Where Bryan Leads. 

Into blind ways where chaos sways ; 
In lands where lights and pathways are 

unknown, 
Weird forests where the leaves are 
strown, 
And unblazed trees line the trackless ways. 
Steer away, voter, steer away ! 

No course is there across his trackless 
seas. 
It would not be so bad for you and me 
If his strange land lay far beyond the sea; 
But he spoils my garden and your fruit 
trees, 
So steer away, voter, steer away ! 

His voice leads on and ever sings ; 
But steer away, there is danger here. 
As the bell on the buoy sings rocks are 
near, 
So his voice tells where the danger clings. 
Steer away, voter, steer away ! 



He knows it not, but, as sure as fate, 
The greater the noise the greater the 

grief 
From the bell of the buoy on the rocky 
reef, 
So steer away ere it be too late. 
Steer away, voter, steer away ! 



The Game of Life. 

Life is like a game of poker, 
And yet we very seldom draw, 

In all the chances of the game, 

A hand that stands without a flaw. 

It is all a game of bluff, bluff, 

Yet it seems that we always hope to 
win ; 
But we mostly get it " on the rough," 

And very seldom " scrape the tin." 

Yet draw again, my brave fine lads ! 

Keep your lip and eye in place ; 
Do not worry over stabs 

And look the future in the face. 
'5 



Love. 

Love comes, close by her side a little child. 
As she nearer drew there arose the wild, 
Swift, fiery flood of fond love's desire, 
Licking ever forward like flames of fire. 



Fame. 

Fame comes, and in her hand a flaming 

torch ; 
While as she nearer draws the awful scorch 
Of flame burns through and sears upon 

the brain, 
Tensing every nerve with fearful pain. 



Death. 

Death comes, and in her hand she bears 

a gift ; 
While as she nearer glides the peaceful 

drift 
Of rest flows through and fills the soul 

with calm, 
Like, roll and measure of some mighty 

psalm. 



At Barbados. 

Oh, come, my love, and thou and I will go 
Down to the lovely land of Barbados ! 

Where we can sit and feel the sunshine glow 
Upon the wide blue sea at Barbados. 

Nor work, nor care, but just enjoy the air 
That we can breathe at lovely Barbados — 

The paradise of space, and free from care, 
Down by the shining sea at Barbados. 



Island of Porto Rico. 

Queen of the Southern sea ! Giant moun- 
tains, clad 
With greens and gold, like glowing opals 

shine ; 
Rocks hanging overhead, where twine 
Wonderful vines that swing and birds 
make glad the misty, vaporous silence. 
17 



Rev. William H. Furness. 

As when at the close in the dusk of day 
We see a great white mass of clouds 

swung low, 
Radiant with the glory and the glow 

Of the departing sun, the vast display 

Of heaven's beauty shines in fine array, 
So shines thy life upon our life below — 
Too high for earth and for our cares. 
Too low 

For heaven and for its eternal day. 

Of olden time there is a record told 
Of a voice speaking from out of heaven ; 
So when we hear thy voice roll out again 

We feel, indeed, the limpid truth of gold : 
''There is no death," — "And ye are my 

children," — 
A mighty story born of love and pain. 



A Star. 

Across my vision there will come, some 

night, 

A star that is more rare and beautiful 

Than ever was a star before ; since full 

Was the moon the first time that she gave 

light 
Unto the world or since the sun's first 
flight, 
That seeming rose to fall, grew bright 

and dull. 
From all of heaven's mystic lights I'll cull 
Just that one perfect star, so wondrous 

bright. 
And unto me its light will shine and bless, 

All hallowed with a beauty of its own ; 
And it shall be my guiding star through life. 
For then no more shall care or storm dis- 
tress — 
Darkness dense shall to darkness dense 
have flown. 
My star shall bear the sacred name of 
"wife." 



19 



The Conductor's Wife. 

Out in the storm and swirl of the snow 
The conductor's wife stands there ; 
Her basket is full of dainties rare 

And she heeds not the wind and the blow. 

The train has stopped but a moment spare, 
And yet in the gloam and the gloom 
Is a fairer scene than a palace room, 

For love and trust are there. 

But a moment, yet time for a kiss 
Ere the train speeds on its way ; 
Yet each is filled with a glow and. spray 

From the ocean of love's great bliss. 

A braver man is he for that kiss 

That came through the storm and the 

snow ; 
And his heart beats with a glad, sweet 
glow 
That for worlds he would not miss. 



:c 



Oh, brave, sweet wife, you little knew 
Of the lives you saved that night ! 
For the kiss you gave in the dark grew 
bright 

And saved his all and the crew. 

So here's to the conductor, brave and true! 

And his wife in the storm and snow! 

And may we all know the strong, sweet 
glow 
That gleamed in her eyes of blue ! 

Our Country. 

When Columbia, with her breast of stars, 
Has once felt the pulse-throb of the life 

Of any new star upon her breast 

She will not say it nay. Tho' wars 

Should rage and wild should be the strife, 

She shields the weakest with the rest. 

When into her eyes a people look, 
To pray and hope for help and succor, 

She will not look aside. Her glance 
Is ever firm. She will not brook 
A slight from the greatest. To secure 

Freedom for all she wields her free lance. 



What is the Other World. 

An answer to Mrs. G. H. Gilbert's question. 

What is the other world ? — a land of peace ! 
No woe or passion can change the sweet- 
ness there ; 
All is love in that flower-scented air. 
Beyond the sunset clouds of golden fleece 
There standeth God, to give all pain sur- 
cease. 
He guides us all as with a mother's care, 
With love for all, yet ever more to spare. 
To all who asks He gives His peace, sweet 
peace. 

To reach the other world is going on — 
Beyond the sea where lies the wave- 
swept shore : 
Beyond the sea of life, eternal dawn, 
With all the glory of the breaking day : — 
God's love and sunshine heaping more 
and more, 
As peace He gives which passes not away. 
LofC. 



For Little June. 

This little book I send to thee 
That thee may learn to spell, 

And know that in the A, B, C, 
The wonders that there dwell. 

They tell of fish that swim the sea, 
Of birds that fly the air ; 

Of little boys as good as thee 
And little girls with golden hair. 

So puzzle o'er the little B's 
And learn the circling C's ; 

In years to come thou'll not despise 
The learning of the wise. 



The Soul. 

Awake, my soul ! and thou and I 
Will sally forth to conquer life ; 

To stand for truth and then to die, 
Face fronting face, in sturdy strife. 
23 



Paris by Day. 

Perfect, beautiful, radiant city ! 

With miles of beauty stretching every 

way, 
Full of light and glory of perfect day ; 
Sunshine warm and clear as God's charity, 
Clean and sweet with angelic chastity; 
Thy fragrant trees, whose branches, 

moving, sway 
To let the air and sunshine lau^h and 
play- 
All is beauty in this perfect city. 

Thy streets, with miles of perfect build- 
ings lined ; 
The noble Arch of Triumph, the Made- 
leine ; 
The gloom of the tomb, the sparkle of life, 
Thy wondrous beauty, that is not con- 
fined 
Alone to shores of silvery Seine, 
But spreads to Versailles, where beauty is 
rife. 



24 



Paris by Night. 

Oh, thou treacherous, lecherous city ! 
To change thy fair robe of golden sun- 
shine 
To this, all stained with filthy mire and 
wine ; 
To hold fair souls in such captivity. 
" Pity !" cry angels hov'ring o'er this city. 
Oh, the cruel absinthe ! As serpents twine 
Their coils to kill, so absinthe doth entwine 
Its emerald sheen with dread enmity. 
No outline fine and clear, as Turner drew 
Of Rome or Greece, but all a horrid blur ; 
No more the colors faint or sharp and 
bright, 
But smear on smear, to make the darkest 

hue. 
Oh, France! fair France! if all thy glories 
were 
For this, arise and clean thy lamp aright. 



25 



Boies Penrose. 

Out from the olde homespun days he seems 

to come, 
Stalwart and strong, with some of John 

Alden, 
And yet a sturdy touch of Standish when 
He stood among that colony and won 
Some of his glory. To wear the homespun 
And look fit is the part of sturdy men ; 
Yet with this to hold in leash tongue and 

pen 
At hand is to ensure one a welcome 
To the halls where men, sturdy in debate, 
Hold their own when the struggle surges 

on. 
Not hot, caustic, bitter, but always there. 
A steadfast friend, patient, ready to wait ; 
A keen fighter, not one to cringe or fawn, 
But one to stand erect. To do. To dare. 



26 



Hotel Sagamore, Lake George. 

Air : Abide With Me. 

No care or sorrow is there any more, 
When once we reach thy shore, sweet 
Sagamore. 

No more the city's din or haunt of sin, 
When once, sweet Sagamore, thy shore 
we win. 

And so we know there is a place afar — 
A land of rest upon some distant star — 

Which, once we reach, we can sit down and 

rest, 
Cheered and made glad upon the Saviour's 

breast. 



Hearts. 

Hearts do not break, 

They only scar ; 

And where the wound was made, 

The parts a little tougher are. 
27 



Quaint Olde Burlington. 

Where lieth lovely Burlington, 
All sleeping in the sun, 
The days and years pass swift away. 
Peace reigns here every day. 

In olden times the strife of creeds, 
Held hands with noble deeds ; 
When Keith from Quakerdom didst turn 
His heart did eager burn. 

When Doane's son turned to holy Rome 
He sought the soul's last home ; 
Yet all were seeking for the light 
That maketh darkness bright. 

To-day the followers of Hicks 
With worldly folk now mix ; 
St. Mary's bells yet calleth out, 
For all of Doane's great doubt. 

And so to-day the sun shines on 

Lovely old Burlington, 

Quaker, Papist — all of the creeds 

Who live sowing the seeds 

28 



Of righteousness and love of God ; 
Walking the path where trod 
The humble Christ, whose daily plan 
Was love for God and man. 



Life. 

Life has its pain as well as its pleasure, 
Fate heaps them both with brimming full 

measure ; 
She garners the one with beautiful flowers, 
The other sprays with bitter salt showers. 



The Two Crowns. 

However far aside we stray, 
There ever standeth near 

The love that passes not away, 
But daily grows more dear. 

We pass along life's troubled way, 

And grievous burdens bear; 
Yet some will wear the crown of bay, 

And some the thorns will tear. 

29 



The Duke of Clarence. 

It seemeth strange I cannot rest to-day. 
My flesh is loosening from its wonted 

place ; 
My shrivelled hands, my hollow-cheeked 
face, 
All seem to feel. My voice doth seem to 

say, 
What means this sun ray in my tomb at 

-, ? lay \ 

Glistening like a bride's veil in this place ? 

And there its shadow throws the bishop's 

mace. 

What is there that disturbs my rotten clay? 

It is the plaudits of the thronging crowd. 

Some wedding of great state is going on ; 
But it is far away, and I am here 
To hark the echoes of the murmurs loud. 

This tomb is very damp. The dark and 
dawn 
Are all alike within this silence drear. 

Royal Art Gallery, 

London, July 8, 1893. 



30 



The Duke of York. 

A future king and queen are wed to-day. 

In royal pomp and state they gaily ride : 

The Duke of York doth wed his brothers 

bride, 

The gloomy walls of old St. James are gay> 

For royalty and fashion there display 

Their names and faces with the ancient 

pride 
Of British land the sun doth not divide, 
And in their Duke of York and Princess 
May. 

"The kingdoms of this world pass swift 
away" 
Is shrined in the old abbey's wondrous 
gloom. 

In years gone by other pageants as grand 

As this that passing wends the Strand to- 
day 
Are now gathered in silence of some 
room, 

Perhaps died exiles from their native land. 



Victoria. 

The Queen is dead ! the Queen is dead ! 
Step soft and low and bow the head. 
A noble mother of all lands — 
Of England's shores and India's sands. 

The sunshine of another light 
Than that we know is on her brow ; 
The glow of heavenly light 
And cheer will never leave her now. 

She rests at peace with man and God. 
Step softly where her footsteps trod. 
A gracious queen, a woman, yet 
One whose reign the world will ne'er forget. 



THE END. 



w\ 



men 



MAR 23 1901 



